NORTHERN LIGHT clipper 1851

[aukepalmhof]

The Central African Republic issued in 2023 two MS with tall ships which all have been depict on many stamps, except one in the border of the MS which shows us the American clipper NORTHERN LIGHT built in 1851.

Built as a clipper vessel by the Briggs Brothers, South Boston, Mass. USA for James Huckins, Boston.
The clipper was designed by Samuel H. Pook.
25 September 1851 launched as the NORTHERN LIGHT.
Tonnage 1,021 ton, dim. 55 x 11 x 6.55m.
Powered by sails.
November 1851 completed.

20 November 1851 she sailed for her maiden voyage from Boston under command of Capt.Bailey Loring, arrived 8 March in San Francisco in 109 days.
Her return voyage from San Francisco she made in 100 days in 1852.
29 October 1852 she sailed again from Boston under Captain Freeman Hatch, arrived San Francisco 23 February 1853 in 117 days.
In 1853 it sailed from San Francisco, California to Boston, Massachusetts via Cape Horn with Captain Freeman Hatch at the helm in a record-setting 76 days, 6 hours. The record still stands for a single hull vessel. In 1993 the record was soundly broken by a multi-hull sailing vessel GREAT AMERICAN II with no cargo. Sailing around Cape Horn (the southernmost tip of South America) is widely regarded as one of the most challenging routes in yachting, due to extreme weather, strong currents, and a historical reputation for mountainous seas and frequent severe storms.

1853 voyage
The return journey was part of a competition with another clipper, CONTEST , bound for New York.
CONTEST  departed San Francisco for New York on March 12, 1853. NORTHERN LIGHT  sailed for Boston the next day. After 38 days NORTHERN LIGHT  came within sight of CONTEST  off Cape Horn. NORTHERN LIGHT ′s crew signalled and overtook their rival.

https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/northern-light/

NORTHERN LIGHT  reached Boston Light on May 29, 1853, after 76 days, 5 hours, arriving in Boston an hour later, two days ahead of CONTEST ′s arrival in New York. It was the shortest run on the 15,000-mile (24,000 km) San Francisco-to-Boston passage on record. It also beat previous around-Cape-Horn speed records of 84 days and 85 days held by the New York-based COMET and FLYING DUTCHMAN  respectively. The Boston Post noted that NORTHERN LIGHT  carried no cargo during the passage. The San Francisco-to-Boston sailing record by NORTHERN LIGHT  still stands for a single-hull vessel; that feat, accomplished in a time with no electricity, and few navigation aids, no plastics, no synthetic materials for sails or lines, and neither accurate television or radio weather forecasts nor accurate charts and Global Positioning System navigation to demonstrate precise location, is unlikely ever to be repeated. Nevertheless, in 1993 the multi-hull 53-foot (16 m) trimaran GREAT AMERICA II broke the record and completed the passage in 69 days, 193⁄4 hours; it had capsized off San Francisco on an initial attempt.

Later service

1854 Sold at auction for $60.000 to Captain Doane.

11 December sailed from Boston for Angaur Island where she arrived on 23 March 1857 in 103 days

NORTHERN LIGHT  made its first transatlantic voyage in 1861, sailing to Le Havre, France, and departed Le Havre bound for New York on December 25, 1861. On January 2, 1862, the ship collided with and sank the French brig NOUVEAU ST JACQUES. NORTHERN LIGHT heavy damaged  was abandoned at sea and, crew was rescued by two vessels that brought their crews and captains to the British ports of Falmouth and Cowes.
All on board were rescued by BREMERHAVEN, Bremen) and NORMA of Norway). She was on a voyage from Havre de Grâce, Seine-Inférieure, France to New York.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Light_(clipper) www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippe ... (1851)html
https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/northern-light/